So first a lesson in what I won't buy. I refuse to go for cheap just because it's cheap. I prefer inexpensive. There is a difference folks. For example think about the words suit, hooker and sandwich. Now put the word cheap in front of those. Not functional, pretty or appetizing right? Now use the phrases inexpensive, fair price for a ..., or affordable. See the difference? I don't believe food should come cheap. If it does it is probably laden with high fructose corn syrup, nitrates and nitrites, fillers, hydrogenated fats or God knows what. I don't do that. Makes life harder to some, but I'm working through it. I also am dealing with my love that seems to not function at maximum capacity while eating gluten. So gluten free for some items, but no biggie.
I also love food! I love food at the height of seasons, or trying some new dish just to expand my abilities in the kitchen. I also feel entitled to try new and dangerous things because I may get hit by a bus with out ever tasting it and how tragic is that. So some of my posts will be about how I am going to deal with it. Hopefully we will learn things as I go off experimenting with how not to blow my money away, or no one ever will read this and I will find new ways to blow money.
Price books -
When I started frugal researching I came across some wacky, perhaps desperate things. I'm not saying there isn't a time and place for those, but I will sell my soul back to Starbucks before that time. But a reoccurring theme was price books. It sounds like an extremely daunting task and I suppose it could be if you got really in to it, but I decided to get one going. I made of list of things I always buy on just about every shopping trip. Then as I go to the store I know I will shop at I make note of the price. Then with some simple math I found out the price per unit. This is how you compare if you are really getting a deal say at the giant warehouse place. I'll tell ya I never knew how much I was really paying for some things. Good eye opener. Some stuff at the warehouse store is a great deal, and some things are the same. So now I go around to a few different stores after checking sales and my little book, but I'm saving money in the long run.
Next is my bulk store experiment. I got so excited over the price of garlic at Costco that I bought some. Now I think once you're in there the size of everything becomes relative and you aren't really getting the full grasp of how incredible the size of what you are about to buy is. So I came home with more garlic than one should ever need. I realized I had a potential storage issue at hand and was frantic about wasting all of this garlic.
This is just 2 bulbs, and I think I had about 15. So I found somewhere that said if you pre-mince the garlic and store it small containers in the fridge, it will keep very well. So we'll see. It certainly was a chore taking all the skins off billions of cloves of garlic, but at least I have a food processor.
I'll let you know if I still have garlic with flavor, or if I totally wasted a smelly afternoon and some cash.
So since all things can't be about work, and you need something tasty to make running around writing down prices all over town worth it, let's eat rice pudding. I adore rice pudding. It's very versatile, easy and homey. I think there is a place in New York that offers tons of rice pudding flavors. Ooh here it is. Oh man they even ship. Well that's most certainly not in budget so I'll make some. So I started out with this recipe. I liked that it used Arborio rice which is creamy on it's own, but this recipe started off with water too so less milk, less expensive. Then I remembered a rice pudding that I adored out of this cook book. It was a lemon lavender rice pudding and I was addicted to it. So I added some lemon rind to my milk to steep.
The lemon gives the pudding a perfect scent and flavor. I was out of lavender flowers so I just made this pudding strictly lemon. Rice pudding is like a wonderful blank canvas and I think that's why it works for any season. Being that it is summer I decided to top it with a sauce I made out of frozen berries and lemon zest. It would have been just as good with simple fresh berries, or for winter, pomegranate seeds.
So this was the recipe after I tweaked the original.
2 cups water
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup arborio rice (the one you make risotto with)
4 cups milk
Rind of one lemon (no bitter white part)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Boil the water with salt and pinch of salt in sauce pan. Meanwhile heat up your milk in a separate pan and add the lemon rind and sugar. Add the rice to the boiling water and let simmer slowly for about 10 minutes until most of the water is absorbed. Add the milk mixture to the rice and continue to simmer stirring occasionally. After about 30 minutes taste to see if the rice is cooked all the way through. Take off the heat when the rice is cooked through, but the milk is just near completely absorbed. It will continue to absorb more milk later and become thick, so you want to retain some creamy milkiness. Remove the lemon rinds and add the vanilla off the heat. Let rice cool then add your cream. I do this only to enhance the creaminess and feel of the pudding, but it is not necessary. Top with fruit or more whip cream, or whatever your fancy budget can afford.
**Update: The pre-chopped garlic isn't bad, but I don't know if it's worth all the trouble. I think this last container has lost some flavor so I have to use more anyway. At least it's not bitter - I was afraid it would become too bitter.
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